Roger Turreff White

ROGER TURREFF WHITE's adventurous life came to an end on January 28, 2013, his 91st birthday, surrounded by most of his immediate family. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, January 28, 1922 to Harold Turreff Weiss and Katherine Inez Sigler. His family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1924 with his grandparents, where his grandfather invested with Walter McCarty in a real estate development which became Beverly Hills. Roger attended school with many of the movie colony children such as Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel (of Laurel & Hardy fame) and Jesse Lasky among others.

He grew up on the MGM lot during the halcyon years of the movie industry, where his mother wrote scripts. This gave him unlimited access to the sound stage even when shooting was in progress. He was often recruited by the crew as a goffer and was never asked to leave an active movie set. In one case, to his embarrassment, his opinion was asked. It was a publicity shoot involving Jean Harlow, wearing a very revealing evening dress, reclining on an old fashioned red coke machine chest. She was bantering with a group of admirers, and suddenly she called Roger and asked "You think I'm beautiful, don't you Roger?" Needless to say, at age 12 he was speechless, and when he recovered his composure he was able to find the right words.

The sets of MGM were Roger's outdoor playground where he could walk down a New York City street and board a full sized passenger train. For the "Tugboat Annie" movie, based on short stories in the Saturday Evening Post, a full sized mockup of the tugboat was built alongside a dock on an outdoor manmade pond - too big for a sound stage, which after 2 weeks became part of his playground. What more could a kid dream for?

His passion for travel came from his trips with his mother who did publicity for the Grace Line and she often took Roger on her travels. One such trip through the Panama Canal ended in Washington, D.C. where they were invited for a brief visit to the Oval Office to meet FDR when he was President. Roger's mother and Mrs. Roosevelt had gone to school together.

Roger attended Beverly Hills High School for 2 years then transferred to Harvard Military Academy. When he was 16, he began building his second sailboat, a 28 foot yawl, in his parents' garage. Quite often the Beverly Hills police would stop by in the evening to remind him how late it was, then sit and chat with him. In 1940, he enrolled at the University of Southern California, earning industrial and civil engineering degrees. He was enrolled in the NROTC program for 3 years, receiving his commission as an Ensign in the US Navy. He served as deck and gunnery officer on an AKA in the South Pacific until the war ended, and was involved in operations from Kwajalein and Eniwetok in the Carolina Islands to Saipan in the Marianas. His ship was transferred to New Guinea to take part in the Navy's efforts to retake the Philippines. Their landing in Leyte Gulf was interrupted by the Japanese naval force. All US ships not part of Admiral Kincaid's Fifth Fleet, were ordered to leave Leyte Gulf and were gone within an hour. Roger's ship and 3 merchant vessels were ordered to finish unloading ammunition needed by the Army and so witnessed the last battle between heavy warships in the history of warfare as the Fifth Fleet blocked the Japanese advance. The gunfire action and flashes were witnessed from the bridge of their ship 12 miles away as they listened to a running commentary on their TBS (CB) radio equipment.

Roger returned to USC to finish his course requirements to receive his engineering degrees, and on a 2-week vacation in Hawaii he was persuaded to fill in for an ailing lecturer at the School of Engineering, where he remained for 3 years. He then went to visit friends in Mexico City for a few weeks, and ended up joining a New York based Industrial Engineering consulting firm, Norris & Elliott for 23 years, and after a few years became a partner. The Mexican operation grew rapidly and became the largest consulting firm in Mexico with branches in Guadalajara and Monterrey, as well as Caracas, Venezuela. He became Manager of the Monterrey branch and after 9 years as a resident engineer became Executive Vice President of the Latin American operations.

Roger met and married Margaret Taylor in Mexico City in May 1955. They were transferred to Monterrey in northern Mexico where their children were born, and lived there for 17 years. When the New York office separated itself from Norris & Elliott, S.A. de C.V. Roger decided to move back to the U.S. and in 1973 came to San Antonio. Exploring his limited options at age 53 he took a commission job with SP Associates, an employment agency and decided to concentrate on getting Spanish speaking engineers for the growing Maquiladora program along the Mexican border.

Even before going to Mexico, he had invested in small industrial properties near the LAX airport in California, and on moving to San Antonio traded those for similar opportunities locally where he could be active in their management. After 2 years, he left SP Associates and managed his industrial real estate properties full time.

He was an avid enthusiast of antique cars, and restored a 1931 Ford Coupe in Mexico. His children enjoyed the attention as they arrived at school riding in the rumble seat. In 1899, the 2 Packard brothers and Roger's grandfather, George Lewis Weiss founded the Packard Motor Car Co. While living in San Antonio he restored a 1936 Packard Sedan also a 1934 Packard Coupe Roadster which won many national awards and is currently on loan at the National Packard Museum in Warren, OH. He was very active in the Heart Texas Packard Automobile Club, the Packard Automobile Classics Club, Packards International, the Classic

Car Club of America and the Bexar Touring Club chapter of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America.

Throughout their marriage of 57+ years, he and his wife, Margaret, have traveled extensively on expedition ships to the South Pacific, including Easter Island and the remote Pitcairn Island of Mutiny on the Bounty fame, to the Antarctic as well as the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. For his 80th birthday, they were the only passengers on a German container ship, for an 84-day voyage starting from Los Angeles, to Seattle, across to Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, through the Suez Canal across the Mediterranean to Europe and back to Los Angeles. They visited his wife's cousins in Australia, Argentina and England, and traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East. Later they put thousands of miles on their Airstream trailer traveling to Alaska, across Canada and most often to the Pacific Northwest.

Roger is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Margaret, daughter Lynne Turreff White of San Ramon, CA; son Roger Turreff White Jr. of Bellevue, WA, son Keith Turreff White of Danville, CA, his wife Michelle and only grandson, Kristopher Turreff White, his sisters-in-law Jeanette and husband Art Jones of Anchorage, AK, and Gail and husband Ralph Boynton of Vero Beach, FL, as well as numerous cousins in Ohio, New York and California. Our thanks to Dr. George A. Ford III and to the wonderful care Roger received during his last few weeks from the Vitas Hospice caring staff.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

AND CELEBRATION OF

ROGER'S LIFE

SATURDAY

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

2:00 P.M.

ST. GEORGE EPISCOPAL

CHURCH

6904 WEST AVE.

Rev. Ram Lopez officiating. A reception for family and friends will follow after the service. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to a charity of choice.